Seasonalities in asset returns, including the January effect, the Halloween effect and the same-calendar-month effect, are widely documented in the literature. We show that a number of popular factors in the empirical asset pricing literature exhibit some well-known seasonalities. Most of the...

Using the collapse of the junk bond market in the early 1990s as an exogenous adverse shock to external capital, I document, in both difference-in-differences and triple difference designs, that speculative-grade firms that recognize economic losses in a timely manner experience a smaller...

We measure ex-ante expectation errors by identifying sporadic versus persistent total asset growth ex-ante. Corporate profitability of high (low) asset-growth firms remains inferior (superior) after temporary asset expansion (contraction), hence ex-ante expectation errors are high. Corporate...

We investigate the relation between tax risk and the cost of private debt. Tax risk can lead to significant negative outcomes, including penalties, interest and additional tax payments, which in turn can increase the uncertainty of future cash flows and make it costlier for a firm to borrow....

In this paper, we lay out theoretical shortcomings of the IRR criteria that have largely dropped out of the finance literature. We discuss the problem of multiple IRRs and non-existent IRR under a new light. We also discuss the financial ambiguity that can arise when interpreting the IRR. Then,...

This paper examines whether independent directors' compensation is associated with related party transactions (RPTs). We focus both on directors' total compensation and on their equity-based compensation. Employing hand-collected data for S&P 1500 firms, we find that independent directors'...

This paper examines whether independent directors' compensation is associated with related party transactions (RPTs). We focus both on directors' total compensation and on their equity-based compensation. Employing hand-collected data for S&P 1500 firms, we find that independent directors'...

We document time varying investor sentiment for corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) performance. We show that announcements of CSR activities generate positive abnormal returns during periods when investors place a valuation premium on CSR performance. In addition, we find that firms...

This paper provides evidence about the unintended consequences arising when small companies are exempted from costly regulations - these firms have incentives to stay small. Between 2003 and 2008, the SEC postponed compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) for...